Fighting tax evasion: Positive results achieved and worrying trends

According to the latest available data, in 2021, the reduction in VAT evasion and the overall tax gap continued, but the growth of income tax (IRPEF) evasion by self-employed workers and sole proprietors resumed. Furthermore, the first estimates for the following years, particularly for 2023, indicate a potential reversal of the trend, which could also be linked to signs of reduced intensity in anti-evasion efforts, associated with numerous amnesty measures and the planned reduction in the number of audits. More generally, the incompleteness of some reforms, even those initiated, concerning the powers and tasks of the tax administration, and the gradual distortion of the biennial preventive agreement, originally introduced as a measure to encourage compliance but then progressively transformed into an inequitable and ineffective tool, are also a cause for concern.